it all began when...

Hannu Metsola had an idea. An idea of a chair that wasn't just one chair. No, it was two different chairs: an office chair for days when the pressure is high and deadlines are approaching, and a lounge chair, for those easy Sunday afternoons in the sun.

Hannu joined forces with Jari Miranda, who designed that idea into reality. The idea of a multi-purpose chair morphed into a functional Nordic design piece, hand crafted in Finland from sustainable materials.

After all that was done we decided to incorporate the whole thing under Miranda Metsola Oy. We also came up with a name for the chair: mekaniko.

Hannu's idea is now reality. We are proud to say that you can see mekaniko in action on the Founder Stage of Slush 2017.

Sustainable, functional design - that's mekaniko.

December 5, 2017

what's next for mekaniko?

So, the TOKYO Christmas sale was last weekend. Hundreds of people visited our spot, sat in our chair and gave us amazing feedback! Also we would like to thank all the TOKYO people whose stands were next to us for their patience.

Also huge thank you for everyone who believed in us enough to buy the chair! We managed to sell most of our stock and we are absolutely overjoyed for each and every sale.

What's next? After amazing reception at TOKYO sales and Slush we are definitely going forward with the chair! Next stop will be the Garden Fair next spring, and we're taking into account all the wonderful comments we heard during these last few days.

What now? After selling and delivering our chairs, the workshop feels pretty empty. That will soon change and we get to enjoy all this extra space only for a few weeks before we'll get right back into gluing, sawing, drilling and crafting.

But we won't be doing that in the next few days. As we approach the centennial of Finnish independence, we at mekaniko are taking a moment to relax and honour this fine republic. Happy independence day! Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!

December 2, 2017

slush turns to snow.

It's amazing to create. It's amazing when people love what you have created. It was amazing to be at Slush.

Thank you everyone who visited our stand, sat down in our chair, bought our chair, chatted with us, gave us constructive feedback and to everyone who supported mekaniko during the months leading up to the event! Huge thanks to the Slush volunteers and staff who managed to create an event that made people hopeful about what tomorrow might bring!

Slush might be over but this was just the beginning for mekaniko. In the coming months we will be refining the chair and streamlining our manufacturing processes. The mekaniko 2.0 will be worth the wait, we promise.

However, while it will take some time to get mekaniko 2.0 out of our workshop, mekaniko 1.0 is still going strong. So if you're still in Helsinki and want to see more young talent and skill, come to Aalto ARTS Arabia campus' TOKYOs Christmas Sales (Hämeentie 135, Helsinki)to see our stand and test our chair! See you there!

November 29, 2017

sitting in slush

Slush is wet snow that slushes around in Helsinki from November to April. It's grey, it's dirty and it gets your socks wet because you are still wearing your canvas shoes that are basically coloured sponges with lacing.

We at mekaniko don't like slush.

Slush is one of the biggest startup and tech events in the world. Every year thousands of investors, entrepreneurs, media, rich folks, princes and former vice presidents of the United States of America gather in Helsinki to slush about. It's the event of the season. November means "month of the dead" in Finnish but Slush still manages to cheer people up. Not all of them. November is pretty grim up here in the North.

We at mekaniko love Slush and we're going there this year.

So we're coming to Slush because we made chairs for people to sit on and we made them for Slush. For Slush people to sit on. Which Slush people? All of them, at least the ones on the Founder Stage. You can admire our work there for the whole of Slush.

Al Gore is going to sit on one. Yeah, that Al Gore. The guy who showed us that climate's pretty messed up and we should do something about it. Swedes gave him a medal for it. (UPDATE: Al Gore decided to stand during his speech, but he did touch the stand which was also made by our designer. Pretty cool!)

So, you can see our chairs underneath some very important people. However, it's not only for them. It's for all of us and we are also showcasing our chairs on the floor. So, when you are walking around the event and your legs become achy and tired, drop by Slush Store. Have a chat with us and sit and relax with mekaniko, in two different positions.

November 27, 2017

the story of the first prototype

It's easy to get a chair. You go to Ikea, you get one of those little pencils and you fill out a little piece of paper with a product number. You get it, you pay for it and, after eating those one euro hot dogs, you drive home. Then you look at that stupid cartoon character in the manual who so effortlessly puts together the chair and wonder how a grown man can't figure out where this piece of wood goes and why there is fourteen extra screws left over.

So, getting a chair is easy.

Making a chair from scratch is much more difficult. Hannu Metsola, our guy with the idea, realized this when he tried to make his idea into reality. However, he saw potential in the chair. He needed to make it reality.

"I knew I had something here, but I didn't really know how to take the next step. I needed a guy with the right know-how and the right networks. I needed a designer I could trust" Hannu says.

Enter Jari Miranda. He's the guy who knows about the chairs. He knows where the screws go, how the wood is supposed to be cut and what you do with all that glue. When he assembles Ikea furniture, there's minimal amount of cursing and no extra screws. That's talent.

Jari built the first prototype from materials found from the rubbish bins outside the Finnish Design Museum. He worked the loose wood, found a few screws and tinkered with some metal and made it into the first prototype.

"It took about 8 months of sweat, blood and innovation to make the first chair." Jari says, modestly. "I hope that the next one is a bit easier."

So the first chair was built. Jari and Hannu thought it was a very well-made chair so they showcased it in Habitare No Trash. People were interested, they liked it, so our two founders thought that maybe they're on to something. Together they decided to take the next step and make this thing an actual product that people could buy.

By building the first working prototype Jari and Hannu also built their company. Had Hannu just gone to Ikea there would not be a company. There would be an Ikea chair and an extra table leg.